She sat back down. “Okay. I have something. It’s probably not important, I was going to call them, then I said why bother, it’s probably nothing. Then I wasn’t sure if I was doing a wrong thing. But since you’re here, anyway …”

She exhaled. “It’s not some big clue or anything but the night before, I was near the park. Pretty close to where I found her but outside the park, on the other side of the fence.”

“On the street.”

“I wouldn’t think anything about it, but with what happened … I mean it was so close. If you could walk through the fence, you’d be right there in seconds.”

Her right hand tugged at the fingers of her left. “I was with someone. Parked in my car. My parents were out late, a party in Newport Beach. I figured it would be a good time to … then I chickened out of using the house so we went driving and we parked. Not that we were doing anything, we were just talking.” She colored. “Kissing a little, that’s it. Just hanging out, it was nice. Until someone drove by and slowed down. Then they drove away and came back and slowed down again. Like they were checking us out. We got the frick out of there. Think we were in danger?”

“I think you were smart to be careful.”

“I figured I should tell the cops,” she said. “But the person with me can’t … she’s got commitments, okay? This could screw things up.”

“I understand.”

She punched the arm of her chair. “I’m trying to do the right thing but I also need to do the right thing for her.”

“I don’t see a problem with that, Heather.”

“You promise she won’t get hassled?”

“She doesn’t need to get involved at all if you know everything she does.”

“I do, I was in the driver’s seat, had a better view.”

“Then I don’t see any need for her to be interviewed.”

“I need to be interviewed?”

“At the most Lieutenant Sturgis will follow up with a phone call and have you repeat what you just said to me so he can have an official statement.”

“That’s it? You promise?”

“I do.”

“I don’t mind talking, it’s just Amelie—I care about her.”

“So you want me to pass this along to Lieutenant Sturgis?”

“I guess.”

“I need you to be sure.”

“Fine, I’m sure.”

“Is there anything else you want to say about the car that checked you out?”

“Not a car, an SUV, that’s all I know, I don’t know brands.”

“Can you recall any details?”

“It wasn’t the same as my dad’s SUV, his is a Porsche, this was bigger. Higher up.”

“What about color?”

“Dark, can’t tell you a color.”

“Unusually high? Like it had been raised?”